Egypt has successfully recovered a
remarkable 3,400-year-old fragment of a statue of King Ramses II, which had
been stolen from the ancient site of Abydos and smuggled to Switzerland, the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
Thanks to close coordination between
the Egyptian Embassy in Bern and the Swiss Federal Office of Culture (FOC), the
artifact has been safely returned to the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and
Antiquities through an Egypt Air flight.
This feat underscores Egypt's
unwavering commitment to safeguarding its rich historical heritage and cultural
treasures, including the retrieval of pilfered Egyptian artifacts.
The fruitful collaboration between
Egypt and the FOC has yielded numerous ancient Egyptian relics finding their
way to the embassy in Bern since August 2021.
In a notable previous instance, the Egyptian
embassy in Switzerland successfully recovered a smuggled ancient Egyptian
statue depicting the goddess Isis cradling Horus the Child.
Additionally, a captivating assortment
of ancient artifacts, including a segment of an alabaster statue of a woman, a
stone sphinx statue, and a cylindrical alabaster vase, has been repatriated
from the FOC since 2021.
Egypt and Switzerland inked an
agreement in 2010 to combat illegal trafficking of antiquities and facilitate
their return to their rightful homeland once discovered.
Source: Egypt
Today
